Ok, so you and your group have found an area that is relatively zombie free, or the zombie population can be dealt with quietly. You have the tools and equipment to build a colony.

What would you build?

I'd prolly build some kind of stockade wall around the colony. The entrance would be a reverse draw bridge that opens up rather then down. As for homes, they would prolly be simple A frames, unless or until we get our hands on better building materials.

I would do my best to find existing buildings, adapting and maintaining them would take less work than building from scratch, and would probably have better quality. With the time saved, I'd rather fence in as large a chunk of land as possible, so we can work outside without constantly looking over our shoulder. Crops that require less work could be on the outside of it if not everything fits. A couple of greenhouses would be nice, and since we have the "tools and equipment", might as well set up whatever free energy source the land affords us, be it wind or solar.Whenever houses are close enough, there should be bridges between them, (as long as people are reasonably fit, two ropes would do the job) so if zombies break the perimeter, inhabitants can not be trapped in one location.There could be traps outside the fences. With big legible signs saying "trap here", since the main target are zombies. Ideally we'd inspect them everyday as animals might get caught and well free meat is probably a good idea, even if it isn't the main goal.

To me the only problem with using established buildings is that thier made to be visible. Thats not just going to attract zombies, but people I don't really want to deal with who might think they have more of a right to my groups supplies. Don't get me wrong. There are advantages to already standing buildings.

fuck it, oridinarybuilding here is zombie proof, especially if built before 00's. Also, Fun Fact about post warsaw pact countries- schools built during communism, were supposed to be combat(?) hospitals if war ever broke out. So we have lots of buildings that might be useful if zombie apocalypse ever comes.Also- There was a lot of stealing during communism and early 90's, so lots of buildings are thieve proofed- iron bars on the windows of first and second floors, and doors always were made to withstand a lot of force. So, if zombies ever come to eastern europe, they are screwed:P

In my opinion the only real flaw with castles is that the best way to defeat thier massive strength, is to go after the people inside. Before they could launch dead animals and people over the way, people used to just wait outside. The people inside were trapped without hope of resupply. Zombies are just going to keep stacking up outside the walls.

What Cricco said. The ones you'd need to watch for would be hunters (Even then climbing the walls would be impressive), and some security fencing would stop those chaps nicely I think.

Cant they jump retardedly high though? Most castle walls that I have seen arent that high at certain points. Maybe 4-6 metres. Also there are trees nearby that you would have to cut down to prevent them climbing up a tree then leaping across.